


Red Eyes

by Rayj4ck



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, and adora is a vampire, catra is an established member of the squad, for a bit, post S1, warning for implied self-injection toward the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 13:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16873968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rayj4ck/pseuds/Rayj4ck
Summary: Exploring for First One's tech, Adora makes one mistake that has a dramatic toll on her week.





	Red Eyes

“Remind me why we’re here again?” Bow asked as he broke another cobweb with an arrow from his quiver. 

“We’re here for the First One’s Tech. We can’t let the Horde get it first.” Adora said back, stepping over pieces of stone and debris. 

“But I thought the signal was weak. It’s probably really old and barely functional.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Catra said, doing an honestly ludicrous amount of work to keep the spiderwebs out of her hair. “The Horde can weaponize a toaster if they tried hard enough. We can’t give them an inch.” 

“We’re here!” Glimmer interrupted, and the gang looked up at a giant, metal door. Or rather, they would have if it hadn’t rusted off of its hinges a long time ago. Walking into the room, they all wordlessly spread out and started looking for anything not dead or rusty. Adora saw it first. Out of the corner of her eye, a glowing pearlescent fluid leaking out of a cracked glass tube. Stepping over to it, she bent over and examined it closer. “Hey guys, I thin-ow!” 

“What? What is it? Catra said, over almost as fast as Glimmer had teleported.

“I cut my palm. I guess it was on this broken glass. But I think this is the stuff we’re looking for.” Adora said around the hand on her mouth, nodding to the leaking fluid. Catra took out her canteen and slowly poured water over the spill. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Bow squeaked.

“It’s fine. It the signal was already so weak, diluting it will only make it harder to find.” Catra answered, continuing to pour. “And we still have what’s left in the tube to examine.” As the fluid was washed away a small, but sharp shard of glass was revealed. “Yep, that’ll do it,” Catra said, looking at the hand in Adora’s mouth. “Well let’s bag the goo and go before Adora here stubs her toe and gets put out of commision all week.” 

“Hey!”

 

* * *

 

 

Adora was just finishing up her post-mission shower, and decided now would be a good time to properly bandage the wound on her hand. Grabbing a basic first aid kit from a few rooms over, she went back to her own and sat down at her desk, unwinding the simple cloth she had wrapped it in earlier. “Woah,” she said, gazing in awe down at her palm. The wound had healed almost entirely, leaving only a slightly swollen pale line and very small scab where a gaping gash had been only hours before. Not even She-Ra did that. “Huh…”

“Adora! You coming to dinner?”

“Yeah I’ll be right there!” she shouted back, quickly trashing the old bandage and applying the proper one. You could never be too careful. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Adora! Come on, wake up!” Glimmer shouted, pounding on her door. “We’ve got meetings to get to, and there’s no way you’re skipping without us!” 

“Honestly, I get we weren’t allowed to sleep in at the Horde, but that’s no reason to make up for lost time,” Catra muttered to herself. 

“Ok ok ok. I’m here.” Adora said, throwing open the door, barely put together and still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Yawning, she got out “Sorry guys. I guess that adventure yesterday was more tiring than I thought. I’m exhausted.”

“It’s fine. Let’s go though, we can still make it if we rush.” Bow replied, turning around to start walking down the corridor, the others moving to keep up. “You ok?” Catra asked, falling back to keep up with Adora, while looking forward toward Bow and Glimmer, making sure they weren’t eavesdropping. “You look like you’re about to pass out. All pale and unfocused.” 

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be alright. Just need to wake up.” 

They were halfway down when they heard Adora cry out. Whirling around, Bow had an arrow nocked, but Catra was frozen in shock. “What? What is it?” Glimmer asked, staring at Adora, who was gazing in fear at a point in space in front of her. Adora slowly extended her hand out in front of her, into the sunlight. As soon as her hand crossed out of the shadows, the skin began to sizzle like it was over an open flame. Adora drew her arm back with a hiss. Looking back up at the others, they stared in shock at her eyes. They had gone blood red. 

“Uuuuhhh…” Bow said, lost for words. Glimmer and Catra, however, were more on the ball as they each grabbed Adora and dragged her back to her room. “Hey, wait!” Bow called after them, racing back down the hallway. Shutting the door behind him (gently, so as not to arouse suspicion), he turned to the three girls. “What’s going on?” He hissed to the three of them. “What’s with the bad camera effect on Adora’s eyes?” 

“Wait, what’s up with my eyes?” Adora asked, going a shade paler than she already was. 

“Here.” Glimmer said, steering her to the mirror on her desk. And then freezing in place. Because there was Glimmer, looking shocked. And Catra, looking equally shocked. And Bow, in the background looking like a violin string so taut it was about to snap.

But there was not Adora.

Catra and Adora looked at each other, then back at the mirror. Glimmer put her hand behind Adora’s head and put up two fingers, wiggling them back and forth. They were clearly visible in the mirror. 

“...aaaaaAAAAAAHHHHH-” Adora started a scream but was cut off by Catra’s hand. “Definitely don’t want to do tha-ow!” Catra jerked her hand back, looking down at a spot on the side of her index finger. There were two parallel scratches. Looking back to Adora, Catra carefully put her fingers back in her mouth.

“Uuuhh, aht are oo doing?”

“Sshhh.” Catra shushed her, feeling around. Suddenly her eyes widened as she hit something on the top set of Adora’s teeth. “Fangs, Adora.” Catra whispered. “You have fangs.”

Adora felt around the roof of her mouth with her tongue, and sure enough, found two extra-long incisors. She looked like she was about to start crying, but the doors were thrown open, startling everyone in the room.

“I figured out what it is!” Entrapta stated confidently, holding up a vial with a sample of the First One’s Goo from yesterday. “Well, sort of. I figured out what it is, but not what it does. It’s a virus!” She said, pulling over a chair and dropping down in front of Adora who, mid-panic attack, was beginning to put it all together. “It was either made as some sort of bio-weapon, or a performance-enhancing therapy, to figure out which, I’ll have to see how it...affects the...body.” she trailed off, looking slightly over Adora’s shoulder. Into the mirror, where she could see her whole face with one eye, and Adora’s head blocking the mirror with the other. It was very disorienting. 

“The cut. From yesterday.” Adora began, unwrapping her hand, which she was barely surprised to see was fully healed. Bow, who had just finished processing, was forced to start all over again when he saw where this was going. “The original container was broken. I cut myself on it while we were retrieving it, and must’ve gotten some of the virus in my blood!” Adora refocused to find Entrapta dangerously close to her face. 

“Could I have a sample of your-”

“Whatever it is, the answer is hard no.” Catra interrupted her. 

“But how are we supposed to find out what’s happening to Adora!”

“I know a way.” Glimmer spoke up suddenly.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh sure. I’ve collected a lot of the First One’s books over the years.” Castaspella said over her shoulder as the group walked. “I’m normally looking for books on magic, but since so little is known of the First Ones, I always saved the books I found. They might contain magic more powerful than anything we can comprehend!” She continued, worryingly excited at the idea of controlling fundamental forces that could shred the fabric of reality. “Unfortunately, they’re all written in First One's writing. No one can read them.” she continued, losing a bit of the wonder from her eyes. “We’ve had our best translators on it for years, but every time some bit of progress is made, some other proof comes out to contradict it. Truly maddening.And so I must admit, taking a trip all the way here in the middle of the night seems a little extreme for just an inventory check-up, and Adora’s...choice of attire can’t have helped.”

The four exchanged nervous glances behind her back, although Adora’s was masked behind a pair of large shades courtesy of an unknowing guard they would definitely return them to later. “It’s, uh…” Catra started, floundering. “Scouts!” Glimmer picked up. “Horde scouts could be all over the woods. We needed to keep this place safe and secret, so we decided to travel at night where no one could see us.” 

“Mmmhmmm. And the shades?”

….

“Night vision!” Bow said, maybe a tad too loud. “Entrapta’s testing a new night vision gadget. Adora volunteered. Right Entraaaaaaa-.” Bow turned around to get Entraptas approval, but she was gone. Catra rolled her eyes. “Oh don’t worry. This happens a lot. We’ll pick her up before we go.” 

“How will you find her?” 

“I’ve got this.” Catra pulled a small screen out of one of her uniform pockets and held it up. On it was a radar-like readout with a dot pinging away, telling how far away it was, and the altitude difference between the screen and-

“Oh my god, you chipped Entrapta?” Glimmer almost shouted, appalled. 

“Hah! No, there’s no way that would stick. No, I got tired of having to hunt Entrapta down, and she got tired of dealing with me after I had found her. So she chipped HERSELF and gave me this.” Catra looked at the screen, but her gaze was miles away. “I got pretty good at reading it. New castle might make it hard, but I’ll manage.” 

“We’ve arrived!” Castaspella interrupted her thoughts, and they turned their gazes to the door in front of them. 

“Awesome. Thanks Auntie!” Glimmer said as she pushed the door open. 

“Oh I must warn you though,” Castaspella called in after them. “All of these books have been enchanted! You cannot leave with one!”

The group all got individual looks of disappointment. “Thanks Auntie, we’ll be sure to be careful!” Glimmer called around the closing door. Turning to the room, she looked over to Adora. “You’re up.”

Sighing, Adora began to scan shelves. “Farming, history, fiction...instruction manual? Nope” Adora murmured as she scanned the books. It took a couple hours, but eventually. ”Here, this could be something. Research stations.” Adora said, pulling another book down. “I think we got the virus from a research station. Number…” Adora concentrated, trying to remember the number station she had visited. 

“407! Station 407!” Adora snapped her fingers, eyes lighting up, she turned back to the book. Flipping through the pages, she came to one with a picture. 

“Hey, I recognize that vial!” Bow said, excitement audible in his voice. 

“Research Station 407: researching a way to artificially induce...vampirism?” Ador began, the word sounding alien to her. Continuing to read down the page, she said “Vampirism is a condition based in myth more than history, but Research Station 407 is dedicated to recreating the benefits of vampirism while attempting to minimize the downside. A more detailed description can be…” Adora trailed off, mouthing the words. “Ok, I don’t know if some of the words in that title translate into our language, but I’ll know it if I see it,” Ador said, shutting the book she had and putting it back on the shelf. “I’ll keep looking.” 

More time passed. Out of the corner of her eye, Catra caught Glimmer tapping her foot and checking her watch. She knew what the princess was thinking. They were running out of night. They would have to head back to the castle soo, or else Adora would be spending the whole day in this castle, leaving Bright Moon horribly defenseless while the Queen was out on her diplomatic visit to another kingdom. “Got it! Adora cried, holding another book up above her head. “Good, you know what it looks like, but we have to leave now.” Glimmer said, walking around Adora and pushing her toward the door. Or rather, attempting to. Adora’s superhuman strength made the feat nearly impossible. 

“But, but-” Adora started, waving around the book. 

“I know, I know, we can come back tomorrow night. But we can’t leave Bright Moon undefended during the day, even if you have to stay inside the castle. We’ve already been away too long.”

“Oh shit.” Catra interrupted, and three pairs of eyes swiveled to her. “Entrapta.” Glimmer and Bow’s eyes widened, and Adora started pulling her own hair. “It’s OK. It’s OK. you guys go now, I can grab her and we’ll catch up with you back at the castle.”

“But-”

“No time,” Catra said, spinning Adora to face the door. Bow had it open, and through a window, they could see the horizon beginning to turn orange. “You need to go now! We’ll be ok.” Catra finished, giving Adora a quick kiss on the cheek, then putting all of her body weight into shoving her toward the door. Adora only went a few steps, but it was enough to break her stupor. With only a short look back, the three began to sprint down the hallway. Catra pulled out her tracker, and began to hunt Entrapta down. But she paused, looking back to the room in thought. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Well, shoot!” Adora exclaimed. They were all back in Glimmer’s room, laying around. “Now we have to go back tomorrow.”

“Not necessarily,” Catra responded with a cheeky grin wide across her face.

“What do you mean?” Glimmer sat up, giving Catra a suspicious look. Unable to contain herself, Catra reached behind her, into the bag she had brought, and withdrew the book Adora had found.

“Catra!” Bow shouted, jumping to his feet. “You stole a book from Mystacor?” 

“It was a library. I borrowed it.”

“Something tells me you never applied for a library card.”

“A what now?”

“How did you do it?” Glimmer interrupted, getting right up in Catra’s face, eyes curious and maybe a little excited. 

“Well, your aunt said we couldn’t LEAVE with one. So I just threw it through the door, walked through, and picked it back up.”

There was a moment of silence as the other three contemplated the semantics. “Note to self: tell Aunt Castaspella to up her security.” Glimmer said to herself. 

“Doesn’t matter. Here,” Catra said, frisbeeing the book to Adora, who expertly caught it. “Tell us more about Vampirism.” Adora gave Catra another stern look, but quickly dropped the act and excitedly flipped to the page she needed to read. 

“‘While Station 407 has been unsuccessful in synthesizing a perfect version of vampirism, a version has been created that still offers the carrier almost all the benefits, while minimizing downsides. Benefits include increased strength-’”

“Wait!” Glimmer shouted, and everyone froze. “How do you think being a vampire affects She-Ra?” The four looked at each other, before Adora ran back to her room to grab the Sword of Protection. 

“You know,” Catra said, while they were waiting. “A SWORD of protection seems like a weird choice. Wouldn’t a shield of protection make more sense?”

“Well, it can turn into a shield.

“No, I remember-”

“And you can still protect someone with a sword.”

“I know. But it’s not what they’re known for. When you think ‘sword’, the first thought is not ‘protect’. It’s ‘attack’.”

“Yeah, but…” Glimmer trailed off, finding herself incapable of coming up with a good argument. They sat in silence until Adora burst through the door, not even winded, and did the whole “Honor of Grayskull” thing. 

“Well, the look is pretty much the same.” Bow said, walking a circle around She-Ra and seeing no differences. “But are you stronger?” 

“Well, she usually is as She-Ra,” Catra said. “Here, let’s just check. Hold out your arm.” She-Ra extended her arm, and with a “Hup!” Catra lept up into the air and hung off of it. 

“Seems lighter than usual, but it’s kind of hard to tell with such little weight.”

“Here, jump on you two!” Bow and Glimmer looked at each other, shrugged, and jumped on. Or in Glimmer’s case, teleported on. 

“Nope. still no noticeable difference.” 

“Well start picking things up then.”

“Be careful with my stuff!”

She-Ra walked around the room, adding desks, tables, and shelves to her other hand. It took most of the furniture in the room before she said “Ok, now I’m starting to feel it.”

“I don’t think She-Ra was this strong before.” Bow gaped up at how much she had in her hands, the other two nodding in agreement. 

“Let’s see what else you can do!” Gimmer aid, teleporting back over to the book and holding it out excitedly, like a kid with a toy they want to convince their parents to buy. 

Sitting back down with the book, She-Ra kept reading. “‘Vampires also possess other varieties of abilities, such as transforming themselves into creatures of the night such as wolves, bats or frogs!’” She was practically shouting by the end, and the other three were looking at her with barely contained excitement, which she mirrored back to them. Screwing her eyes shut, She-Ra concentrated all of her willpower, and-

_ Poof! _

When she opened them, she was a wolf. A MASSIVE wolf. She stood nearly eye level with the rest of her friends, despite being on all fours. 

“Awesome!” Catra shouted, rubbing behind She-Ra’s wolf ears.

And then She-Ra licked all the way up Catra’s face. 

“Agh! Pfflflbt. Not awesome!” Catra cried as she reeled back. “Change back! Change back!”

_ Poof! _

“Sorry,” She-Ra said, looking bashful. “I don’t know what came over me.” 

“Let’s file that power under ‘Awesome, but at what cost?’” Bow grimaced as Catra wiped more drool off her face. “Next.”

“‘Imposing their will onto others.’” She-Re read. Looking up from the page, she gazed at the others in trepidation. “I don’t really know how I feel about that. Feels....wrong. Reminds me a lot of Shadow Weaver.”

“It could be a powerful tool, but yeah let’s not.” Catra agreed, horrified of anything Shadow-Weaver-esque happening again.

At this point, Adora let her transformation go and returned to her normal body. Continuing on, she read “‘Vampires are resistant or immune to most forms of injury, with a few key exceptions listed under Weaknesses.’” Ador frowned and flipped a few pages. “Yes, I would like to see those please….Aha!”

“‘While vampires possess many strengths, some of which may be yet to be discovered, they also have many weaknesses. The first and foremost is an intense reaction to sunlight.’ Intense is one word for it.” Adora muttered to herself, before speaking up and carrying on. 

“‘While causing physical harm, the reaction is so adverse many vampire’s sleep schedules are inverted from those of a human, sleeping during the day and waking during the night. Another potentially lethal weakness is silver.’” Adora looked up to Glimmer. “How much silver is in this castle?”

“Not a lot.” Glimmer began ticking off the spots she knew on her fingers. “The silverware, some of the fancy detailing in the throne room, the mirrors hey maybe that’s why you couldn’t see yourself in them!” 

“So if I try something like this,” Adora started, striding over to the waterfall, and small pool beneath it. “Then I should be able to….woah. The red eyes ARE really weird.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of getting used to them though,” Catra said, walking up behind Adora and wrapping her arms around the other’s waist. Looking into Adora’s eyes in the pond, she saw the concern. “Hey, don’t worry. Whatever this is, we’re gonna figure it out. What’s a little virus against the four of us?”

“Yeah!” Bow called out from behind them.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Adora took a deep breath and grinned at Catra’s reflection, which returned her smile. “Alright, let’s go see if I have to be deathly afraid of like, turtles or something.”

“There’s the spirit!” Catra let go of Adora’s waist and threw a hand up. Bow tossed the book into her hand, and she grabbed it without turning around. Offering it to Adora with a cocky smile and raised eyebrow, she said “Your tome, my lady of darkness.”

“Why thank you,” Adora responded, before chuckling and opening it back up to her page. 

“‘A wooden stake through the heart will be lethal to vampires.’ Well yeah, no duh. ‘While not lethal, many vampires experience an irresistible need to count small objects.’”

“So let’s cancel the annual marbles tournament.”

“We don’t have an annual marbles tournament.”

“It was a joke you dork.”

“Oh right.”

“‘While not specifically a weakness, a serious detriment vampires must overcome is the inability to enter a domicile without being invited first.’” Adora lowered the book, confused. “What? How does that make sense?”

“Yeah, what about Mystacor?” Bow agreed, hand on his chin.

“Remember how Castaspella greeted us though?” Catra said as ears perked up excitedly. “She said ‘Welcome back!’ Maybe that counted!”

“And the castle?”

There was silence for a minute as everyone thought, before Glimmer snapped her fingers. “Remember what my mom said after Catra had proven she was on our side? She said ‘You, Adora, and any other defectors are always welcome here.’ Maybe that counts too?”

“Maybe?” Adora agreed, but she still sounded confused. “Maybe it’s because the infection took hold here? So this kind of counts as my home?”

“So how fine-detail is this anyway? Like if I say ‘Adora, you are no longer welcome in my room-’” Whatever she was about to say was interrupted by Adora being yanked back like a rope was tied around her chest, and being thrown out the door. 

“Ooow. Glimmer!”

“I’m sorry I’m sorry! I didn’t know it would work like that!”

Adora stood up and rubbed her head, not necessarily injured so much as shocked by the lack of warning. “Well, that rules out any stealth missions to th-” Adora was cut off from her attempt to walk back into Glimmer’s room by a  _ Thunk _ , like she had just walked into the door instead of the opening where it was. “That’s going to be really annoying. Glimmer?”

“Right. Adora, you are welcome in my room again.”

Putting her hand out to test, Adora found it could easily pass through the door frame once more. Walking back over to her seat, she picked it up, giving Glimmer a look. “Let’s try not to do that anymore, yeah?” Glimmer nodded back, eyes slightly wide. 

“‘Finally, an important note, vampires of old needed to DRINK BLOOD TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES?’” Adora looked up from the book, horrified. Her friends looked back at her, and Adora couldn’t help but notice the new hints of trepidation in their eyes. Hands shaking, she looked back down at the book, she kept reading. “‘However, the need to drink blood has been removed from the current version of the virus, instead granting the subject a boost to the positive qualities of vampirism, and minimizing the detriments.’” A collective sigh of relief flowed through the room, and Adora’s heart returned to a normal bpm. “I’m not doing that,” Adora said, finality clear in her voice. The other three were happy to nod. Clearing her throat and recentering herself, she looked down at the final part of the description page. 

“It looks like there are some other weird weaknesses in here, but they got removed? Somehow? I don’t know, I’ll ask Entrapta when I translate it for her.” Right at that moment, a yawn cut through whatever Adora was going to say. “Tomorrow. I’ll ask her tomorrow.”

“Time for bed, huh?” Glimmer asked, stifling her own yawn. “Lucky. You have an excuse to go to bed. The three of us have to stay up another like 12 hours.” 

“What, why are you guys tired? ARE YOU INFECTED?”

“No, Adora. We’ve been up as long as you have.”

“Oh right. You have.”

“Well,” Catra said as she stood up, stretching. “Get some good sleep for the rest of us.” Leaving Adora with a kiss on the cheek, she padded out of the room to go find breakfast. After a quick hug from each of them, Glimmer and Bow were right behind her. Adora followed them out the door, but turned down the opposite way and made her way to her own room. Closing the blinds to keep the sun out, Adora paused for a minute, eyes on the rising sun. She couldn’t help but think back to being able to lift all of Glimmer’s furniture with ease, including her three friends without even breaking a sweat. And the thought wormed it’s way to the front of her mind before she could stop it.

_ Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Is this disease worth curing? _

Shutting the curtains, Adora laid down to sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Of course, the choice was removed from Adora’s hands and made for her. The Horde, having gotten word of the Queen’s diplomatic mission away, decided to attack castle Bright Moon. 

In the middle of the day. 

“Looks like Lonnie finally got promoted enough to see a real battle!” Catra shouted over the laser fire. “All it took was the other two people better suited for the job to defect to the other side!” 

“Bold words from someone hiding behind a tree trunk!” Lonnie called back. 

“Hey, can you blame me? Your face alone is enough to scare away half the army!”

Catra only heard an enraged scream in response, so she figured she had won the banter battle. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the actual battle. She and the princesses, who had been filled in on Adora’s condition, were holding the line as best they could, but without She-Ra they were being slowly pushed back toward the castle gates. No one had suffered any critical wounds yet, but Catra was worried that when someone did, that would be the crack that broke their line. 

Glimmer poked her head over the log to get a look at the enemy and, all of Catra’s fears coming true in one incident, couldn’t react fast enough before a laser blast skimmed too close side of her face. Crying out and falling back, Catra caught her before she hit the ground and pulled her back into cover. Ripping open her field First Aid kit, she began to clean the wound. The blast went clear through the top of her ear, taking a chunk right out.

“You’re ok. You’re ok.” Catra repeated over and over as she bandaged the spot. When she was done, she pulled Glimmer into a close hug and said it right into her (good) ear. “You’re ok.”

“I’m ok.” Glimmer parroted back, still mostly in shock. Slowly though, her eyes refocused. “I’m ok,” she said, looking right at Catra and nodding. Nodding back, Catra let her go and she returned to her spot behind the log. 

“Whoever just shot that laser blast is about to have their insides turned into their outsides!” Catra yelled, letting the anger she felt color her tone.

“Yeah? You and what princess of power?” Lonnie called back, and Catra could only curse under her breath. She was right. Looking over into the sky, Catra squinted her eyes against the setting sun. “Come on come on-”

“-come on come on!” She-Ra exclaimed as she paced the entry hall to Bright Moon, casting her gaze out the window once again. Pausing she considered trying to walk out anyway, sun be damned, for the dozenth time. But, once again, she scowled and kept pacing. As strong as she was, Vampire She-Ra was no much for the sun. All she could do was wait.

 

* * *

 

 

Catra crawled along on her back, until she was pressed up against the gate, putting it and her the last thing between the Horde and Bright Moon. Glimmer, Bow, and all the other princesses had been incapacitated in some way or another. She was the last one standing. She couldn’t do much though, because she scarcely lifted her eyes when a heavy combat boot came down on her (maybe broken) ribs, pushing a pained cry out of her lungs. Looking up, she saw a blaster leveled at her face, a smug Lonnie on the other end. “Any last words, Catra?”

Coughing out blood that she made no effort to keep off of Lonnie’s boot, she managed to squeeze out between bloody teeth “I would say goodnight, but I don’t think you’ll be having one.”

Lonnie raised her eyebrows in confusion, lowering her blaster slightly. “What kind of la-” was as far as she got before the doors to Bright Moon Castle blew open so hard they flew off their hinges, and She-Ra descended onto the battlefield like a force of nature. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Ok, I’ll be first to say it.” Bow began as he was lowered onto the bed. “I would like She-Ra to be able to fight in the daylight again.” A chorus of tired agreements sounded off from the beds around him. 

After She-Ra had run everyone to the infirmary herself, they received their prognosis. Catra did have a few cracked ribs, as well as a major concussion. The chunk out of Glimmer’s ear will make it harder for her to hear in that ear for the rest of her life, as well as a broken arm that will leave her bedridden right along with Catra. Bow had taken a blast similar to Glimmer’s, but while not physically touching him, it streaked right past his left eye, making him temporarily blind in that eye. The rest of the princesses had taken injuries that would leave them bedridden for at least a week as well. 

“I agree,” Adora said, letting go of her transformation and sitting down next to Catra’s bed, carefully taking one of her hands. “Sitting in the castle waiting to be useful while you guys were out there fighting was torture.”

“I’ll get right back on that,” Entrapta piped from a few beds away. “Just as soon as, you know.”

“Yeah. That’s fair.”

 

* * *

 

 

Luckily, the appearance of She-Ra had put the fear of 8-foot tall princesses into the Horde, because they didn’t attack again. Adora stretched her limbs, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her skin without the accompanying feeling of burning alive. She had decided to take the day off, as much as she could, and opted to lay there. The other three decided to join her, Bow and Glimmer laying so their heads made a triangle, and Catra deciding to just lay on Adora. Finishing her stretch she lazily wrapped her arms around Catra with a sigh. “Bing strong enough to pick up a tank with two fingers was fun, but man I missed this.”

“Same.” Catra agreed from her spot on Adora’s torso. “Let’s hope we never have to handle vampires ever again.” getting three nods empathetic in return.  

 

* * *

 

 

Entrapta picked up her recorder and pressed the button. “Day 7 of the First One's Vampirism Virus Experiment. With the combined information gained from the book Adora read me, field data from her infection period, and data obtained from multiple simulations, I believe I have worked out the “downsides” presented in the Vampirism Virus.” Entrapta lowered herself, gazing carefully at the fluid in front of her. “However, results cannot be confirmed without live experimentation.” Picking up a syringe, she carefully extracted part of the serum. “The virus has been shown to reject animal cells, dying inside their bodies with no effect on the host. As such, there is only one possible option.” Entrapta continued, putting the point of the needle against her own arm. 

“11:54 AM. Beginning Human Experimentation phase.” 


End file.
